South Sudan ratifies Sudan Peace Accord enabling oil production
South Sudan’s parliament ratified a peace agreement with Sudan, bringing it a step closer to
starting oil production that was shut down earlier this year amid a dispute over transit fees.
“We expect Sudan to ratify this agreement and we open a new page in our relationship,” Pagan Amum, South Sudan’s chief negotiator in the conflict, said in a phone interview today from the capital, Juba.
South Sudan halted oil production in January after accusing Sudan of stealing $815 million of its crude. Sudan said it confiscated the fuel to make up for unpaid fees it was owed for transporting the oil via a pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The impasse brought the two countries to the brink of war in April and prompted the United Nations Security Council to threaten sanctions if they didn’t resolve all outstanding problems.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July last year, acquiring three-quarters of the formerly united country’s 490,000 barrels a day of crude output.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman al-Obeid Murawih didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone. The ministry’s undersecretary, Rahmatallah Mohamed Osman, said his government “is eager on successful implementation of the cooperation agreements,” the state-run Sudanese Media Centre reported yesterday.
Rebel Clashes
The accord signed today lays out fees the landlocked South will pay for the use of pipelines and processing facilities in Sudan and includes a border-security deal. It was brokered at African Union-sponsored negotiations on Sept. 27 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and signed by both governments. Once both legislatures ratify the agreement, South Sudan can order oil companies to resume production.
Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan Peoples Liberation- North forces continued fighting throughout the negotiation process. On Oct. 10, the SPLM-N said it shelled military targets around Kadugli, the capital of oil-rich Southern Kordofan, in retaliation for attacks by government troops and aircraft.
The clashes and unresolved claims between the two nations over contested border territories, including Abyei, threatens to undermine the peace accord.
“I’m not worried,” Amum said. “We are mobilized and prepared to resolve and find settlements over disputed areas and find a solution for Abyei.”
- Database Search
- Unpaid Debt A comprehensive overview of the role of the Lundin Consortium in the oil war. ECOS calls upon the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments to investigate whether, as a matter of international law, Lundin, OMV and Petronas 'were complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by others during the period 1997-2003.’ In response, the Swedish Public Prosecutor for International crimes opened a criminal investigation into ‘links between Sweden and the reported crimes’.
- In Depth For more specific information about the Lundin court case please visit the Unpaid Debt dossier.
